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Columns and Editorials

Each legislative session, the public understandably focuses most of its attention on the biggest issues facing the General Assembly, which this year range from addressing a heroin epidemic to modernizing rules for the telecommunications industry.

The three days that the Kentucky General Assembly was in session this week started on Monday with news that the first new law of 2015 had taken effect and ended on Wednesday night with a flurry of bills passing both chambers before the Senate and House adjourned shortly before midnight.

Lawmakers are now in a nine-day recess and will return to the Capitol for the final two days of the 2015 session on March 23 and 24.

When it comes to illegal drug use, few states have been hit as hard as Kentucky over the last 15 years. We have lost thousands of loved ones during that time to a rising tide of meth, synthetic drugs, prescription drug abuse and heroin, and tens of thousands more have seen their lives ruined.

The General Assembly has responded by passing a series of laws, many of them hailed as national models, that have had real, lasting success against these epidemics.

Donna and I recently watched Driving Miss Daisy, a 1989 movie starring Jessica Tandy (Miss Daisy) and Morgan Freeman (Hoke). I was amazed at how much of the story I had forgotten, or didn’t get, from 25 years ago.

What I remembered was a story about a cantankerous old woman and a tenacious old African-American man who managed to become friends in spite of their differences. There was more to the story.

As we approach the final days of the 2015 Legislative Session, we have been working diligently to complete our consideration of Senate bills while also vetting legislation that has been passed by the House. We will begin considering several additional House bills next week.